Protecting Workers in a Global Economy Chile, Next in Line for NAFTA Membership, May Prove a Test Case for International Labor Rights

Lilian Rodriguez, Chilean seamstress, has a message for Richard
Gephardt, US Democratic congressman: Don't give up the international
battle for labor rights.

As the United States continues to haggle over whether labor and
environmental issues should be part of future international free-
trade agreements, particular attention is falling on Chile.

One reason is that Chile stands next in line to join the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the United States,
Canada,
and Mexico. NAFTA includes both labor and environment sections.
Even though some analysts consider those provisions weak, many
free-trade advocates oppose including them in future trade accords.
But the focus on Chile is also because the labor laws of this
toothbrush-shaped country on South America's Pacific coast are
themselves controversial.
For some observers, labor legislation here, inspired by the
antiunion sentiments of Chile's military dictatorship, which ended
in
1990, remains the weakest in South America.
The result has been long workdays, weak collective-bargaining
power, and little worker protection in Chile, critics say.
But others say labor law - "rebalanced" after the 1973 coup from
an entrenched pro-labor tilt - has played a central role in the
"miracle" that has given Chile a decade of record economic growth
and
poverty reduction. And, they say, it stands up well against US labor
law.
After President Clinton traveled to Santiago, Chile, last month to
talk with hemispheric leaders, Representative Gephardt, a champion
of
labor rights, said he didn't like what he heard.
Faulting the absence of a commitment to give labor issues equal
weight in trade talks with business concerns, the Missouri Democrat
said trade accords without protections for laborers would continue
to
earn his thumbs-down.
Gephardt was the engine behind opposition that derailed the
Clinton administration's push for "fast track" trade negotiating
authority last year.
If the future is indeed in a global economy, Gephardt told a
recent AFL-CIO convention in Washington, "then the workers of
Brazil,
Mexico, or Argentina should have the same rights as American
workers."
Such talk is music to Ms. Rodriguez's ears. The hand-finishing
worker at a small knitted-goods workshop in Santiago says that if
the
sweaters she makes from Korean yarn for Asian investors are to be
sold in markets around the world, then her labor rights should be an
international issue as well.
"Workers should have some basic rights," she says, "and then you
can go on to free-trade agreements."
In Chile, collective bargaining by industry - textile workers,
miners, carpenters - is prohibited. All negotiations are limited to
the individual company. And unions are generally allowed only in
companies of 25 workers or more.
So businesses often split into small companies to avoid collective
bargaining, leaving workers on their own.
At boss's mercy
Legal strikes are limited to a small window of time during
contract negotiations. Seasonal workers, particularly on Chile's
extensive fruit and vegetable farms, are not protected under
collective-bargaining rights. Firing employees is at the employer's
discretion.
"We went from one of the more protective labor laws {before the
coup} to one of the most flexible," says Hugo Yaes, a lawyer with
the
Labor Ministry's research department. …

The rest of this article is only available to active members of Questia

Print this page

While we understand printed pages are helpful to our users, this limitation is necessary
to help protect our publishers' copyrighted material and prevent its unlawful distribution.
We are sorry for any inconvenience.